Review
“Actress Mazar has just the right sassy streetwise accent to fit the first-person voice of Evanovich’s hero, Stephanie Plum. Mazar sounds poised yet real in her role as the New Jersey-based bounty hunter. She gamely throws herself into the dramatic ‘bits’ along the way, playing out the dialogue scenes with relish.”—Publishers Weekly


Book Description
America’s favorite bounty hunter, Jersey girl Stephanie Plum, in her fifth hilarious, high-octane thriller—now on CD!
Out of bail skippers and rent money, Stephanie throws caution to the wind and follows in the entrepreneurial bootsteps of the super bounty hunter, Ranger, engaging in morally correct and marginally legal enterprises. So a scumball blows himself to smithereens on her first day of policing a crack house and the sheik she was chauffeuring stole the limo. But hey, nobody’s perfect! Anyway, Stephanie has other things on her mind. Her mother wants her to find Uncle Fred who’s missing after arguing with his garbage company; homicidal rapist Benito Ramirez is back, quoting scripture and stalking Stephanie; vice cop Joe Morelli has a box of condoms with Stephanie’s name on it; and Stephanie’s afraid Ranger has his finger on her trigger. The whole gang’s here for mirth and mayhem.


About the Author
Janet Evanovich is the recipient of the Crime Writers Association’s John Creasy Memorial, Last Laugh, and Silver Dagger Awards, as well as the Left Coast Crime’s Lefty award, and is the two-time recipient of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association’s Dilys award. She lives in New Hampshire, where she is at work on her next Stephanie Plum adventure.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
From the day Stephanie Plum first started tracking down bail jumpers for her cousin Vinnie, neither bounty hunting nor the city of Trenton have ever been the same. Now, in High Five, Janet Evanovich's fifth installment in the Plum series, New Jersey's most entertaining bounty hunter is back on the trail again with the monstrous powder-blue Buick and the usual cast of zany characters at her side. There's stun-gun-packing Grandma Mazur, who has redefined the term "riding shotgun," and Lula, the black, bodacious, and bountiful hooker-turned-file-clerk who is just itching to bag herself a bail jumper. Of course, there's also vice officer Joe Morelli, with his fine-fitting jeans and a way of making Stephanie forget all but his presence. But after getting a little too close for comfort in the last book, Stephanie and Morelli have agreed to step back and take things slower, which allows Ranger — Stephanie's sexy and mysterious mentor — to step in and give Morelli a run for his money.

Stephanie's big case this time is a personal one, the result of high pressure from the family and an extremely low caseload at the office. She is trying to find her missing Uncle Fred, who went to the bank and grocery store three days ago and never returned. The only clue is a picture of an unidentifiable body in a garbage bag. While Stephanie is only too happy to help out the family, there is the little matter of the rent to pay and food to buy, and Uncle Fred's case is a freebie. Hoping to make enough to tide her over for a short while, Stephanie makes two fatal decisions. The first is toaskRanger, who never seems to be at a loss for money or sleek and sexy black cars, if he has any jobs she can do to tide her over. The second is to bring in what appears to be a low-paying but easy-to-find bail jumper, Randy Briggs. This second option looks like even easier money when Stephanie discovers Briggs is all of three feet tall, but Briggs, who gets a tad testy when he's called a midget, isn't as easy as he looks and refuses to be brought in by a "loser" like Stephanie. His success in avoiding capture and his constant taunting push Stephanie over the edge until finally, in a fit of pique, she bashes in his door and practically throws him down a flight of stairs.

Meanwhile, Ranger offers Stephanie a series of jobs that quickly become a series of disasters. But there is pay involved and the side perk of a company car, which frees Stephanie from having to drive the hated but seemingly indestructible Buick. Problem is, Stephanie has always had a penchant for having things blow up or burn down around her, and both her new jobs and her new wheels are short-lived as a result. To make matters worse, her investigation into Uncle Fred's disappearance is going nowhere and there's a nasty bookie following her around, making her life miserable. About the only good thing in Stephanie's life is the way both Morelli and Ranger seem determined to get her into bed. But neither of them is likely to get very far, since Stephanie has virtually no privacy. Not only is the mysterious bookie showing up inside her apartment unannounced; Randy Briggs has moved himself in lock, stock, and attitude, feeling it's only fair that Stephanie put him up while the door she ruined back at his own place is being repaired.

As disturbing details about Uncle Fred's disappearance surface, the body count for both people and cars mounts. Will Stephanie be able to solve the mystery before a vicious killer comes after her? Will she get her man in the end? (And in the case of Morelli and Ranger, which man will it be?) The answer is yes on all counts, but not before plenty of wisecracking comments, madcap adventures, and sidesplitting fun.

—Beth Amos

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Bail jumping in Trenton is down to small potatoes. Stephanie's only open case is a small bond for a small violation, committed by a small person who raises Stephanie's frustration level in big ways. So, short of money and long on bills, Stephanie comes up with a plan - diversify! Signing on as an intern with entrepreneurial Super Bounty Hunter Ranger, Stephanie ventures into Ranger's mostly morally correct and marginally legal operations.. "None of this makes vice cop Joe Morelli a happy man. The cop in him can't help but wonder as to the source of Stephanie's expensive new car. And the rest of him, the man who's been friend and lover to Stephanie, can't help but wonder if there's more to the partnership than meets the eye.. "The internship is downgraded to second priority when Uncle Fred goes missing. Even though Grandma Mazur is sure he was abducted by aliens, Stephanie sets out to look for Fred. He's a perfectly average senior citizen, and he's disappeared without a trace while running errands. He's left his ten-year-old Pontiac station wagon locked up nice and neat in the Grand Union parking lot, the cleaning is carefully arranged in the backseat, and his wife is at home, waiting for him to return with the bread and the milk and the olive-loaf bologna. Locked in the top drawer of his desk are photos of a body, dismembered and stuffed into a garbage bag. And locked away in the computer files of another average citizen are the clues that will lead Stephanie to Fred.

SYNOPSIS

Stephanie Plum, America's favorite Jersey-girl bounty hunter, is back in her fifth entertaining hit, High Five . Uncle Fred is missing, and even though Grandma Mazur is convinced aliens abducted him, Stephanie drops everything in order to sniff out her luckless relative. But finding dear ole Fred isn't all our hero needs to worry about. No, not in the least. Give Janet Evanovich a high five.

FROM THE CRITICS

Jill M. Smith - Romantic Times

Welcome back to the weird and wonderful world of Stephanie Plum. Janet Evanovich's genius for delivering hilarious scenarios laced with intrigue and danger is unmatched!

Dallas Morning News

Steamy.

Marilyn Stasio - The New York Times Book Review

Like Stephanie's awesome wardrobe, the plot is a grab bag of colorful bits and pieces that don't really go together but are great fun to play with.

Jill M. Smith - Romantic Times

Welcome back to the weird, wonderful and wacky world of Stephanie Plum. Janet Evanovich￯﾿ﾽs genius for delivering hilarious scenarios laced with intrigue and danger continues to be unmatched!

USA Today

A Fun Romp.Read all 14 "From The Critics" >

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